Wow, Christmas and the dawn of 2019 are almost here! These past days and weeks our family has been busy finishing off schoolwork, preparing for Christmas, and trying to be a blessing to those around us. Our church carol service went very well last week and we had quite a few guests join us. We had live animals, free family photos on offer and a party for the younger children. This Sunday we have another special Christmas family service including our first Trinity Chippenham nativity. It’s been quite a hectic last few months with ministry travelling (Chicago and Spain) and seminary teaching and marking (for Union in Wales) for Peter, along with much serving at church. I’ve been doing my best to manage the household, as we also open our home and hearts to various people. We’re all looking forward to a break from the normal routine over the Christmas holidays. Everyone is also excited about my parents arriving from America tomorrow to spend the holidays with us!
As this year draws to a close, we realise we are long overdue to share some family news and photos. Here are a few photos to give you a flavour of what we’ve been up to:
Looking right back to the start of the school year . . here are all my amazing students! (the title of the book Jessah is holding cracked me up!)
We’ve been studying ancient history this year and the kids made an edible cake map of Egypt for one of their assignments. 🙂
Hannah helped Kaylah rig up a horse and “buggy!”
Aliyah doing some baking with the little girls.
Jessah and Kaylah eating “log cabin” toast (just like my mom used to make for me!)
It’s been a goal of mine to spend more time outdoors this school year. We’ve had some lovely times together enjoyed creation.
Kaylah found a TINY snail!
The autumn leaves were absolutely gorgeous.
Lots of Mead wellies in the leaves.
We’ve enjoyed spending time at the nearby stream and woods, both by ourselves and with other homeschool friends.
Our September nature tray . . .
And October . . .
We took this photo to preserve the memory of a VERY wet walk home from the supermarket. We were absolutely drenched and Mariah heroically carried a sobbing Jessah all the way home! A walk we won’t forget!
Our church’s annual Light Party is a real highlight of our autumn. – a great outreach opportunity and lots of fun. Here the girls are icing MANY cookies to put in party bags.
Jessah at the Light Party!
Another highlight of our autumn is doing the Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. We read stories from an amazing book this year which inspired us even more to get involved. Kaylah got very excited and spent lots of time and her own money filling her box.
Sweet Jessah turned 3 in November!
And Joel turned 12!
We really enjoyed Thanksgiving with some friends. Aliyah did a beautiful job decorating the table.
Our walks have gotten fewer this month as we have had extremely wet weather. Here we are managing a little walk/ride between the raindrops.
A winter highlight for me so far was taking Jessah ice skating for the first time. We went with my friend and her daughter – so fun!
It’s a good deal, being able to ride on a banana when you get tired!
Kaylah and her friends from the “Har-minis” choir had fun singing carols at a retirement home.
Life is sometimes a complicated web . . . with God’s gracious help, we keep on “climbing” and serving Him!
Thank you for your prayers for our family. We would very much appreciate prayer for physical and spiritual refreshment over the Christmas period (we are all quite tired and in need of a break) and quality time as a family. Also, that the Lord will work through us in the times that we spend with others outside our family. Our desire is to share his wonderful love and kindness that we ourselves have received. Happy Christmas to all of you and please do let us know how we can pray for you and your family in 2019.
